VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MARCH 27^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MARCH  27^th, 2019

1.     (27th March) is World Theatre Day (WTD). 

a.      This day was initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute. 

2.     US President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation recognising Israel's sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights. 

a.      Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was with Trump at the White House as he signed the presidential proclamation.

b.      Note : Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognised internationally.

3.     European Parliament today adopted controversial copyright reforms championed by news publishers and the media business. 

a.      Under the reform, European law for the first time would hold platforms legally responsible for enforcing copyright, requiring them to check everything that their users post to prevent infringement.

4.     Pakistan government has approved a proposal to establish a corridor which would allow Hindu pilgrims from India to visit Sharda Peeth in the region of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). 

a.      Sharda Peeth Corridor will be the 2nd corridor to be established after the Kartarpur Corridor which provides access to Gurudwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan.

5.     The Supreme Court today announced that "A disease caused by insect bite in natural course of events wouldn't be considered an accident".​ 

a.      The ruling was given in a matter of insurance cover for a bank employee who died due to malaria from mosquito bite in Mozambique.

6.     Election Commission has appointed Special Expenditure Observers for six States in view of the forthcoming elections. 

a.      These states are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Nagaland and Telangana. 

b.      Special observers will supervise and monitor the work being done by the electoral machinery. 

c.      Gopal Mukherjee - Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

d.      D D Goel - Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland

e.      Shailendra Handa - Maharashtra and Gujarat 

f.        Madhu Mahajan - Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

7.     Punjab and Haryana High Court has barred the mentioning of caste in the FIRs. 

a.      The court directed its judicial officers and the governments of Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, not mention the caste of the accused, victims or witnesses in any of the proceedings before it.

8.     To boost civic engagement on its platform during the Lok Sabha elections 2019 that commence in April, social Media giant, Facebook has launched 2 new India-specific tools viz. “Candidate Connect” and “Share You Voted”. 

a.      Candidate Connect : 

i)      This feature will provide contesting candidates to upload 20-second videos in which they can introduce themselves and highlight how they will address outstanding challenges in their constituencies if elected to office. 

ii)    It will also let them highlight their past achievements.

iii) Voters will be able to watch these videos of candidates contesting from their respective constituencies and also from other constituencies. 

b)    Share You Voted :

i)      This feature will provide people with polling information and enable them to announce and celebrate the fact that they have voted.

ii)    Facebook will send out reminders to people on polling dates in their constituencies under ‘Share You Voted’ tag.

9.     Bank of Baroda has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Agriculture services companies to develop an agriculture digital platform titled Baroda Kisan, which will provide solutions for agricultural requirements.

a.      The platform intends to make a holistic approach towards solving agricultural plights by means of providing reliable and customised information, inputs for use, convenience of renting farm equipment, and market linkage for sale of agriculture produce.

b.      The initiative is being executed by ITCoE (It center of Excellence) of Bank of Baroda, in partnership with IBM India.

c.      Managing Director of Bank of Baroda : P S Jayakumar

10.American multinational technology company Apple has introduced its own credit card titled 'Apple Card' that is built within the iPhone's Apple Wallet app. 

a.      Further, it introduced a physical titanium card without card number, CVV security code, expiration date or signature, for shopping at locations where Apple Pay isn't accepted. 

b.      The virtual card will be available for US users later this year.

11.India and Bangladesh are going to start a cruise service that would take passengers through the Sunderbans to Dhaka.

a.      The move aims to strengthen inland waterway routes between the two countries.

12.India and Croatia signed key agreements in the fields of Sports, Tourism and also Establishment of the Hindi and Sanskrit Chair at University of Zagreb. 

13.The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) today successfully conducted an Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) missile test, Mission Shakti from Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha.

a.      A DRDO - developed Ballistic Missile, Defence Interceptor Missile successfully engaged an Indian orbiting target satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in a Hit to Kill mode.

b.      An official release said, the interceptor missile was a three-stage missile with two solid rocket boosters. Tracking data from range sensors has confirmed that the mission met all its objectives.

c.      The test has demonstrated the nation’s capability to defend its assets in outer space.

d.      With this, India has registered herself as a space power today and till now only US, Russia and China have achieved this. He said, now India is the fourth country to achieve this feat.

14.All 8 members of the Lokpal were administered the oath of office today.

a.      The Chairperson of the anti corruption ombudsman Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose administered the oath of office to them. 

b.      Besides Chairperson, the President Ram Nath Kovind had appointed 4 Judicial members Judicial Members :

i)      Dilip B. Bhosale

ii)    Pradip Kumar Mohanty

iii) Abhilasha Kumari 

iv)  Ajay Kumar Tripathi 

b)    Non-judicial members :

i)      Archana Ramasundaram

ii)    Dinesh Kumar Jain

iii) Mahender Singh 

iv)  Indrajeet Prasad Gautam

15.Election Commission of India has appointed former Director General of Border Security Force K K Sharma as a Special Central Police Observer for Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal and Jharkhand.

a.      The poll body also appointed former IPS officer Mrinal Kanti Das as Special Central Police Observer for Tripura and Mizoram.

16.The 2018 Turing Award, known as the “Nobel Prize of computing,” has been given to a trio of researchers who laid the foundations for the current boom in artificial intelligence.

a.      Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and Yann LeCun — sometimes called the ‘godfathers of AI’ — have been recognized with the $1 million annual prize for their work developing the AI subfield of deep learning.